XINRAN SHI

COUNTRY – United States

AGE – 13

HOST FAMILY – Kitty and Don Krahnke

Xinran Shi lives in San Jose, California. She began playing piano at four and a half and currently studies with Hans Boepple. Xinran was a 2020-2022 Young Scholar of the Lang Lang International Music Foundation. In 2022, she won first prize in the Kaufman Music Center International Youth Piano Competition, fourth prize in the Ettlingen International Piano Competition, and she was the state winner in the MTAC State Solo/Concerto Competition. Among her previous honors were top prizes in these competitions: the International e-Piano Junior Competition, Aloha International Piano Competition, Chicago International Music Competition, San Jose International Piano Competition, Chopin International Piano Competition in Hartford CT, the Steinway Piano Competition Regionals and Nationals, Philadelphia International Piano Competition, Marilyn Mindell Piano Competition, China Grand Canal Piano Art Festival, Seattle International Piano Competition, and the Pacific Music Society & Foundation Competition.

Xinran has attended various music programs such as Morningside Music Bridge, the PYPA Piano Festival, the Aspen Music Festival and School 2020 Virtual Program, the John Perry Academy Summer Festival, and the Grand Piano Series. She appreciates having had the opportunity to learn from great teachers, musicians, and pianists including Lang Lang, Gary Graffman, Arie Vardi, Antonio Pompa-Baldi, Jerome Lowenthal, Hung-Kuan Chen, Ching-Yun Hu, Kathryn Brown, John Perry, Ruth Slenczynska, and Jay Sun among others. Besides playing piano, Xinran enjoys dancing, reading, swimming, and traveling.

Repertoire

ROUND I

Liebermann Gargoyles, Op. 29

Chopin Etude in G-sharp minor, Op. 25, No. 6

Chopin Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52

ROUND II

Bach Prelude and Fugue in D Major, BWV 874/WTC II

Beethoven Sonata No. 3 in C Major, Op. 2

ROUND III

Chopin Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11

Rebekah Yinuo Tan

COUNTRY – People’s Republic of China

AGE – 16

HOST FAMILY – Pam and Peter Cooper

Rebekah Yinuo Tan was born in Shanghai, where she started formal piano training at the age of seven and a half. Currently she studies with Helen Krizos at Chetham‘s School of Music (United Kingdom). After her first solo recital in 2019 at The Bridge in Shanghai, she gave her concerto debut at the age of 13. In 2022, she performed Prokofiev’s 3rd Piano Concerto under the baton of Jonathan Bloxham with the Chetham’s Symphony Orchestra in Stoller Hall.

Rebekah has performed in multiple venues across the United Kingdom and abroad, such as St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Sidney Sussex College (Cambridge), Legnica Art Centre and the Shanghai Oriental Art Centre. She has received guidance in either a master class or lesson setting, such as the SIMA Classics Masterclasses, from many notable musicians, including Boris Berman, Christopher Elton, Freddy Kempf, Kathryn Scott, Piotr Paleczny, Stephen Hough, Steven Osborne.

Competition successes include winning first prize in the EPTA UK 12-and-under (2018) and 15-and-under (2019) and the Gold Hand Prize in the Carles and Sofia Piano Competition in the Emergent Class ages 17-21 (2021). In 2020 she was the winner of the Chetham’s Sinfonia Concerto Competition and Chetham’s CSO Concerto Competition.

Along with her solo and concerto performances, Rebekah is also an enthusiastic chamber music player, and has accompanied various vocalists and choral ensembles.

Round I

Bach Prelude and Fugue No. 20 in A minor, BWV 865/WTC I

Chopin Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52

Messiaen Catalogue d’oiseaux: No. 2, Le loriot

Round Ii

Beethoven Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Appassionata, Op. 57

Liszt Transcendental Etude No. 10 in F minor, Appassionata, S. 139

ROUND III

Prokofiev Concerto No. 3 in C Major, Op. 26